Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council – Progress towards achieving the Kyoto Objectives (required under Article 5 of Decision 280/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning a mechanism for monitoring Community greenhouse gas emissions and for implementing the Kyoto Protocol)

In 2009, total EU-27 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions without emissions and removals from Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) were 17.4% lower compared to 1990 levels. Emissions decreased by 7.1% compared to 2008 while during the same period the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in EU-27 dropped by around 4% as a result of the economic recession.

Additionally, according to the provisional 2010 data, EU-15 and EU-27 GHG emissions changed by 2.3% in 2010 compared to 2009. Based on these estimates, EU-15 emissions are 10.7% below the base-year level. EU-27 2010 emissions are approximately 15.5% below the 1990 level. The change of GDP in 1990-2010 was 39% for EU-15 and 41% for EU-27, and around 1.8% between 2009-2010.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, the EU-15 agreed to reduce its GHG emissions by 8% by 2008–12 compared to base year levels. Based on the latest available inventory data of 2009, total GHG emissions in the EU-15 have fallen for the sixth consecutive year and were 12.7% below base year emissions without LULUCF. While since 1990, the EU-15 economy in terms of GDP has grown significantly by almost 37%, GHG emissions in EU-15 have declined.

In 2009, EU-15 GHG emissions decreased significantly, by 6.9% compared to 2008 well exceeding the drop of EU-15 GDP of around 4% as a result of the economic recession, which proves that in 2009, the deep economic crisis in the Union did not stall the transformation of the Union's economy towards a low carbon economy. The rate of improvement in GHG intensity remained at the same level as in the years before.

All in all, projections of total GHG emissions indicate that the EU-15 is well on track to reach its Kyoto target.

EUR-Lex: COM(2011)624: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2011:624:FIN

European Commission: SEC(2011)1151: Commission staff working paper http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SEC:2011:1151:FIN:EN:PDF

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